Monday, June 28, 2010

I probably shouldn't post anything today, as it's been one of those days. I'm sure most of you have had the kind of day that I'm currently having . To say its a bad day is an understatement, call it what you want, depression, attitude sickness, a day when you feel like throwing something at something because you don't know for sure why you feel so lousy, you don't know what you would do about it even if you did know, and on and on with the silent whining or cerebral carping or whatever the hell it is. But the point is , so far it's just "one of those days".

Its a day when I feel like walking into an Italian Mens Social Club, in NYC and kicking the head goombah in the testes just to get the crap beaten out of myself, or maybe, if I got lucky , shot or whatever, doesn't matter.

It's a day when I am just plain disgusted. I've tried to live my life as I thought it should be lived, and have to say that I see now that my being on this planet has made no difference at all. The things I've done that I thought I should do, haven't , in the final analysis, made a damn bit of difference.

I cannot point to one single thing that I am proud of doing, not one single thing that I've done that has made any difference to anyone that I can think of, save the people who are worse off for things I have done. I owe so many debts, both financial and otherwise, to so many people, that I cannot possibly live long enough to satisfy.

If I have been an example to anyone, it can have been only a bad one. I cannot say that I have been an inspiration, to anyone, at anytime, for anything, save for those who have been smart enough to avoid doing the things that I have done, and profited therefrom.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

I have watched with interest the actions and inaction of the "Accidental President"Barack Hussein Obama , and the longer I watch, and the more I listen, the more discouraged I get.

First Little O was elected a United States Senator from Illinois, through a freak happenstance. He, in effect, had no opponent. His opponent, on Paper was widely thought of as an idiot, so people voted for O as the lesser of two evils. No one knew much about him, as all he had done prior to running for the U.S. Senate, was to be a State Senator, which in Illinois consists mainly of looking the other way while nefarious deeds are consummated and certain Bribe Price Lists are circulated. Other than this his efforts had consisted mainly of Registering Minority Voters and lecturing in law school.BUT, he got the blessings and financial support from Big Mamma Oprah, and that's all he needed. God bless and save us all.

He never served one single day in any of the United States armed Forces, doesn't know a PFC from a pork chop, yet finds himself with the luxury of Lecturing a full General in the U.S. Army, on how to fight a war.

I don't think anyone could fault the General if he, in turn, were to lecture Little O on how hard it is to fight a war when White House Permission has to be sought before launching a Drone Strike against the enemy.

Lets face it folks, anyone who has ever served in the Military will hasten to tell you that a Politician is inhibited by his training and instincts from having even the foggiest idea of how to conduct a Military Operation.

The wars we have not conclusively won have served as an example of what happens when Politicians try to fight a war their way, in order to bolster their standing in the Polls.

We have never won a war from the White House, or from a Congressional Committee room, nor will we.

Verily, I am sick of this squandering of the lives of American Servicemen and Women in a Politically Governed War. I have heard it said that, in order to win the War in Afghanistan, we must win it politically, by winning the hearts and minds of the population in general. This ain't gonna happen folks. As long as you have, as the larger component of the populace, fruitcakes who think it is noble to kill unarmed civilians and blow themselves up in order to gain admission to Paradise we will have a population that will not cooperate with those who would try to liberate them from 12Th Century Anarchy, in the simple hope of staying alive.

I am not much of a Military prognosticator, but I fear that General Stanley McChrystal will not be the last Commander that will be displaced for voicing an opinion unpopular with the newt in the White House.

I am going to think about this a little more before I post it, to try and sort irrationality from ignorance, but I fear that I will be unsuccessful, as the two appear to be conjoined when talking about the national political scene.

And I did so.....................................................................

If I recall the lessons I learned in the Army, and I'm pretty sure I do, the primary lesson was this. " do not fight to keep from losing, fight to win and gain territory and once gained, DO NOT give it back". A saying that I heard more than once from senior combat veterans was "Politicians think that because they can start wars it follows that they also know how to fight them". This is as fallacious as saying "My rifle is clean enough"

I am fully aware that in the UCMJ it is expressly forbidden to criticise one's commander in Chief , but to give a temporary President the power to terminate the career of a man who has spent his whole adult life serving his Nation, is just wrong.Sure give the CIC the authority to transfer the Officer elsewhere, but fire him? No, Never. That's as silly as throwing away a good pocketknife because you cut yourself on it.

Monday, June 7, 2010

I was awaiting my appointment time, in the VA clinic this morning, and was pursuing my usual habit of people watching and listening,when it dawned on me that I was seeing an Illustration of Generations in the Tableau that was playing out in front of me.

There were Veterans waiting to have their blood drawn, or for other tests, and it seemed to me obvious which of these men, (they just happened to be all men today), were in my guesstimation probably of what Tom Brokaw called the Greatest Generation.

I am sure that most of us agreed with Brokaw on this designation, in that never before in recorded American History have so many taken on such an incredible task, with the certain knowledge that fully a third of them would either not return home to their loved ones,or possibly in a metal box. And of the "lucky" ones,those who made it home alive, many of them would be maimed in body or mind to such an extent that they could never again be so free and easy with thoughts of Liberty and taking their lives for granted , but instead, as evidenced by these few Old Men I observed this morning, keep their own council, and reserve their memories for those which, unbidden , come of their own volition, and with the contagion of long habit, in their dreams and in their waking Nightmares.

The few Old Men, and they were, in truth, only in some cases Ten or so years older than I, were distinguishable to me, by their silent observation of the younger Veterans of who served long after their(The World War II) Generation. The younger veterans, one in particular, almost never stopped talking, to all and sundry, and the older guys never stopped listening, in a bemused manner, as if to say "If you had only seen".

I do not in the slightest mean to demean those of succeeding Generations and of succeeding Wars, whatever their size, but I'd venture to say that none of them had ever seen one or two Thousand or more Dead Soldiers, laid out in neat rows, most with only a Poncho over their faces, and a Dogtag wedged between their front Teeth, waiting with the Stiffness of the Dead, for shipment or Burial, for later recovery by Graves Registration troops.

We have lost far-far too many troops in succeeding wars, and often it is difficult to find any sort of a justification for their sacrifice, but rather leave it to their grieving survivors to justify this, as they must, to retain their sanity during their loss. I suspect it is always easy for those lucky ones of us to say that these Heroes died for their Country, but that, like all labels, cannot hold `til self applied. We lack the experience to know fully of their sacrifice.And those of us who had a peaceful and uneventful service in the Military, cannot even begin to even try to understand what ALL combat veterans know.

So, perhaps, Brokaw was right in calling this the Greatest Generation, and not just the Brave men and women who served in the Military, but those left at home, who also served in ways they had never imagined having to do, in order to help in the War Effort.

So, in the just aftermath of Memorial Day, let us all at least stop for a moment to say Thank You to that Noble Generation.

And to Pledge that we will never forget.

Not just the" Greatest Generation" but those Generations of Americans before that, and those that have followed,in the sometimes necessary folly that is War.Let us pray, too, that no other Generation will ever have to sacrifice in such numbers that their Generation will, forever after, be identified mostly with the conflict in which they served.